Gemma - Jeremy Macklin

Gemma - Μασέτι.

It’s been less than two months since Gemma introduced themselves with their debut album and took us along on an ambient, electro-rock journey entangled with the Cretan folk music. This time Gemma returns and shares with us a different aspect of their music creativity!

With the drums, percussion, loops and bass they create a rhythm that makes the body move and on the other hand, the electronic ambience, the enchanting voice and the eerie sounds they make the mind travel. Maseti is a mystical, dance track which carries us in its raving world!

A sharpened knife, Maseti for Gemma is all about the contrasts, the conflicting elements and the choices we make. In a society where anything that exceeds the limits of regularity is considered reprehensible we must gather the strength to cut down our shackles, stand strong in the face of fear and let ourselves be free to express what we truly feel. A party beyond restrains!

Gemma consists of Danili Evangelia (voice, loops), Kaparos Giorgos (production, composition, loops, synths, guitars), Mavrogiannakis Nikos (drums), Paschidis Anastasis (bass) & Spinthourakis Apostolis (percussion, lyrics).

Video contributors: Filming: Aleksandros Iliakis, Montage: Kaparos Giorgos, Dancers costume design: Eleanna Apostolaki, Artistic make up: Athina Veridaki, Lighting: Manos Foustalierakis (Quality Sound), Konstantinos Papadopoulos, Juggling performance: Efi Lempesi (ovaproject).

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Jeremy Macklin - Half Full Cup.

While it’s essential to happiness, taking time to focus on what we’re grateful for can be challenging — especially with the world overflowing with trials and tribulations. Thankfully, Cobourg, ON country singer-songwriter Jeremy Macklin shares that quintessential life wisdom with his new single and video, “Half Full Cup” — available now!

The song not only pays homage to the blessings found in the everyday, but also lands alongside the Cobourg, Ontario artist’s EP, We Bring the Fire. The five-track debut features previously unveiled singles, “The Beer Drinking Song,” “Small Town Pride,” the album’s title track “We Bring the Fire,” and more — and adds to Macklin’s collective 1 Million streams across platforms.

“Yeah, I’m sippin’ on a half full, feel good feeling,” Macklin declares in the latest display of his signature brand of high-octane, joyful jams. The perfect elixir to soothe troubled times, “Half Full Cup” inspires smiles, potent life perspectives, and all-important toe-taps by way of this multi-talented driving, energy-plus country rocker.

To create this positive party-vibe anthem, Macklin and co-writers Jesse Slack, Adam Newcomb, Daryl Scott, and Rob Morden honed in on the desire to provide an antidote to the pandemic blues. “We wrote ‘Half Full Cup’ during these difficult times to help us all stay positive,” he shares. “The sentiment was: Don’t give up, and don’t forget to enjoy yourself with a drink or two.”

Beyond that straightforward sentiment, “Half Full Cup” turns a spotlight on the negative and unhealthy aspects of the selfie generation.

“Yeah we all want what we ain’t got, the grass is greener ‘round the block
It’s just so easy to get caught up in the mirrors and smoke
It gets to you, it gets to me, sometimes it’s harder than it seems”

“I wanted to write a song that referenced social media, and how many of us compare ourselves and our own lives to those we see on our tiny, handheld screen,” Macklin reveals. “We shouldn’t allow all of the ‘filters’ to influence our lives in a negative fashion.

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Sad Daddy - The Magic Epic

Sad Daddy - Cold Rain.

Little Rock and Hot Springs, AR/Austin, TX foursome Sad Daddy will unveil "Cold Rain," the second single from their brilliant new LP Way Up In The Hills.

This track shows off the less grassy/more folk-pop side of the band, and it's one of my favorites from the record. Band member Joe Sundell, who wrote this one, was inspired by the loss of control we were all going through at the start of the pandemic--both as individuals and as a society--and how it made some of us feel like the walls were closing in. The imagery is powerful - there's a man whose life is turned upside down and finds himself in a hole at the bottom of a lake. It's the idea that as things keep progressing the way they are, we all have to jump into this new reality and learn to swim.

Sad Daddy's four members, Melissa Carper (upright bassist who released her critically acclaimed LP Daddy's Country Gold in March), Brian Martin (guitar), Joe Sundell (banjo), and Rebecca Patek (fiddle), all conspired and united in the Arkansas woods in 2020 to create Way Up in the Hills. "Cold Rain" features Rebecca Patek's yearning fiddle, porch stomps, and their signature four-part, goosebump-y harmonies.

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The Magic Epic - Sally.

Toby Juan AKA The Magic Epic grew up in suburban South London and moved to the coast after falling in love with Brighton where he began writing his own music in 2013.

He worked as a hod carrier and then became a full-time busker after having enough of carrying bricks and cement one snowy morning in Redhill. Many years of busking has allowed Toby to perfect his craft and overcome his performance anxiety. His influences include John Lennon & Otis Redding but he's often likened to early Billy Joel. Sally is a beautiful track about a friend of Toby's who was a dancer and was heavily into the clubbing scene.

Her health suffered, which was a constant worry for him and then Sally had a brief fling with a guy they both knew and she became pregnant. She never looked back at her clubbing days and her health restored, she started to glow like never before when her child was born. They were there for each other through their hard times and so this inspired Toby to write the song to honour the battles she went through to become what she is today. Sally also made him godfather to her child.

The song is about knowing what love is for the first time and how having her child saved Sally. The track also features Iain Hornal from 10CC and ELO on backing vocal and bass guitar whilst the video was shot by Andy Baybutt who was behind the promo for The Verve's Lucky Man'.

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Lasse Matthiessen - HVOB - Timo de Jong

Lasse Matthiessen - Closer.

Hot off the heels of the release of his new EP ‘Coordinates Remain’, Danish artist Lasse Matthiessen is set to release a perfectly reflective new single for Xmas time, ‘Closer’.

The new single continues a bold new change in direction for Matthiessen which he fleshed out with ‘Coordinates Remain’. Having previously built up a large following with a folky sound, the EP and ‘Closer’ push in a bigger, atmospheric, electronic direction. The works are Matthiessen’s most experimental and effect-bearing pieces to date. 

The striking change in sound and new material was inspired by a dive back into the memory banks of Matthiessen’s past during the lockdowns of 2020. Having re-visited many child-hood haunts and feelings during this time, the music plumbs deep depths and eschews genre categorization, combining a feeling of melancholic dystopia with big electronic-pop moments and then evading the listener completely in a mysterious nostalgic shadow. 

‘Closer’ seems to have refined this melange of intriguing gorgeousness superbly. On the track, Matthiessen explains, “I wrote the song ‘Closer’ two years ago in Berlin in a warm apartment situated in “party street” in the Friedrichshain district with the producer Hannes Butzer. I arrived three hours early by mistake and had to go back home again to the shared apartment I lived in with a German artist and painter.
Sometimes when I was away he used the apartment to paint and he had just finished a series of prints printed with some kind of toxic fluid and the smell was all over the apartment as was his prints: On the table, on the floor and on the walls – his black paintings and prints. I wrote the outline of a ‘Closer’ then, on my old piano and I guess I was kind of influenced by all these impressions.” 

The invitingly intimate soundscape on ‘Closer’ is characterized by the piano played by Philipp Milner (from the duo Hundreds) and the pumped bass-beat at the end of the song after the last chorus with Matthiessen’s vocal sounding heavy with emotion. The progression from haunting cinematic atmospherics to pulsating infectious anthem shows an uncompromising songwriter at the top of his game, who’s not afraid to take risks in order to create exhilarating sonic magic.

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HVOB - Capture Casa.

Following four studio albums and one live album, HVOB are about to release their sixth album: TOO is an angry, tender, vulnerable, determined account of a generation's search for life. The album explores extremes in concept, content and sound. It breaks with the tradition of releasing the entire album following the advance release of a number of singles. The eight tracks from TOO will be released individually and sporadically. This way, the album grows into an eventual whole over a period of six months.

HVOB share the second part of their 8 track album in new single ‘Capture Casa’ - out now.

am i too cold/ am i too old / am i not good for you
am i too quiet / am i too tired / am i too much for you
- from "Capture Casa", TOO, HVOB

The song marks a return to the Austrian duo’s signature melodic techno. The track juxtaposes Anna Muller’s delicate vocal against building atmospheric soundscapes. Capture Casa follows the announcement of new album TOO and first single ‘Bruise’ and celebrated video

TOO is dedicated to the state of mind of a generation in search of inner and outer belonging: the album captures a life in the dichotomy of one's own and other people's expectations, in the feeling of not living up to these expectations, in renewed attempts to free oneself from these expectations.

The first track from the new HVOB album "Bruise" was released on November 18th. The eighth and final track from TOO will be released to coincide with the start of the world tour in April 2022.

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Timo de Jong - Unparalelled.

Timo de Jong has released the track 'Unparalleled'. This is the lead single from his new EP 'Dawdle'. For this EP Timo works for the first time with a producer, Thomas Olivier (Hackensaw Boys, among others). Before the Corona epidemic, Timo played more than 100 shows a year, but during the last period he has been forced to focus on what he does very well; writing new songs. He will present the result of this on 19 December in the Neushoorn, Leeuwarden.

Timo himself says about this new project: “This EP means a lot to me, because it's the first time that I was able to really let go of things during the process. Working together with Thomas has not changed my sound, but has improved and refined it. I believe that I have made great growth.”

During the past year, Timo de Jong and producer Thomas Olivier have been working on the music together, from demo to the final product. A conscious choice was made for a characteristic sound with an appreciation for a warm and natural-sounding production. For example, all vocals were recorded with a microphone from the 1950s and all songs were recorded live. Lyrically, 'Unparalleled' is a helping hand, a musical heart under the belt in which Timo shows that love songs don't have to be all doom and gloom.

Timo de Jong is an authentic musician who lives for (and from) live performances, of which he has already performed more than 600. That includes three successful tours through England, and performances in Germany and Belgium. Whether it's an intimate living room concert or a band performance in a pop hall, Timo does his thing, and that thing is: making good music.

He makes his music in order to realize, to tell and to heal. In doing so, he takes experiences of himself and those around him, and then writes a universal and appealing text about them. Behind the scenes, Timo de Jong has been refining, improving and crystallizing his music for several years now. He moved from folk to rock 'n' roll, eventually arriving at Americana.

The EP's release show is on today in the Neushoorn, Leeuwarden. The EP will first be released only on CD and will only be available to listen to on the streaming platforms in its entirety in 2022.

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Rodney Cromwell - Tony's Tears - Big Little Lions

Rodney Cromwell - Get Me To Prague / Radagast The Brown.

Rodney Cromwell is the nom-de-plume of Adam Cresswell. Both tracks on this new single were recorded while Cresswell was in his first band SALOON that operated between 1998-2003. Saloon released three albums with Track & Field (UK) and Darla (US). They toured extensively in Europe, supporting the likes of STEREOLAB, ELECTRELANE, QUICKSPACE and OF MONTREAL. They are remembered mostly today for their 3 John Peel Sessions and four Festive 50 entries, including the number one in 2002.

 ‘Get Me To Prague’ was written and recorded in 1999 on a Yamaha four-track tape recorder using a bomtempi organ, casiotone and Moog Rogue. Recorded in a single evening, the track is an exploration into proto-germanic electronica in the style of Ralf & Forian era Kraftwerk.  Taking 22 years to get a mix he was happy with, Cresswell cites this as because “I didn’t like the snare sound.” 

In 2001, Saloon were asked to offer a track for a tribute to a ‘The Lord of The Rings’ album. The rest of the band were less-than enthusiastic, but for Cresswell, for whom the Spectrum computer game of ‘Rings’ had been a formative experience, it was an offer too good to refuse. In lieu of a proper studio, ‘Radagast The Brown’ was composed one Saturday afternoon in 2001, on the bed of his girlfriend’s grandfather, while he was out watching a Reading FC home game. Also recorded in one sitting, the song was made on a minidisc 8-track recorder, using just a Casiotone keyboard and a Korg MS-10 synth. It is another exploration into primitive chiptune electronica, with echoes of Plone, Jean Jacques-Perry or Gershon Kingsley. 

Under his solo guise of Rodney Cromwell he released the LP 'Age of Anxiety' in 2015 and 'Rodney's English Disco' EP in 2018, with coverage in Electronic Sound, NME, Huffington Post, Impose, Paste, Record Collector, BBC6 Music and national RNE3 in Spain, for whom he recorded a live session. The debut album featured in scores of Best of Lists including Electronic Sound and The Electricity Club who named him ‘Most Promising New Act’.  His last single ‘Memory Box’ precedes an album of the same, to be released in March 2022; described as “pure hertz tone glory” by Post-Punk.com, it has had numerous blog features and radio plays, including national play from BBC 6 Music.

Happy Robots Records · RODNEY CROMWELL: Get Me To Prague

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Tony's Tears - Gazing At The Border.

Stockholm synthpop duo Tony's Tears are following up their debut EP that was released earlier this year with the single "Gazing at the Border". It's the first single of the EP "Erasing Diamonds" that is to be released this spring. Tony's Tears saw the light during the pandemic and they are really looking forward to play a real show in their hometown on Xmas day!

Their music can be defined as cinematic indie that is flirting with the 80's together with "suggestive and electronic elements".

Alex och William about the song: The song serves as a scene in a larger story that fits within our upcoming ep "Erasing Diamonds". The text is like a look into an event where one does not quite know what has happened before or after. Which aims to instead directly jump into the middle of the dramatic curve.

Where we’re told about a situation where someone has been taken away and where the self in the song is powerless to do anything about the situation. The song is about a form of "we" and "them" drama. Where there is a superiority and an oppressed side. The sound image is intended a bit like a message from a VHF-radio that sometimes loses its connection and turns into noise with voices in the background and then reconnects again.

Aivaprod · Tony's Tears - Gazing At The Border

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Big Little Lions - From The Storm.

From The Storm is written, recorded and produced by Big Little Lions who are Helen Austin & Paul Otten.The lyrics are reproduced below.

It’s getting late, a chill sets in
You hesitate, you’re wondering
If you should go
You’re so used to icy hands
That follow every frosty glance
You never know

Chorus:
You didn’t bring a coat
But I will keep you warm
I know I can protect you
From the storm 

When the sun starts to shine
It’s still cloudy in your mind
Too scared the forecast might be wrong
So winter holds you
And winter told you
This is where you belong
Chorus.

 


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